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Rice urges U.N. to address Iran threat to Israel | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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UNITED NATIONS, (Reuters) – U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Friday she would ask the U.N. Security Council to take up the matter of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s threats against Israel.

Speaking at a council meeting on Israeli settlement expansion, Rice said at the top of the list of threats to international peace and security was Ahmadinejad’s assertion that Israel “should be wiped from the face of the map, should be destroyed and should not exist.” “The United States of American will be asking that the council convene again to take up the matter of one member of the United Nations calling for the destruction of another member of the United Nations in a way that simply should not be allowed,” Rice said.

Ahmadinejad caused widespread outrage for saying in 2005 that the state of Israel should be wiped off the map. In his speech to the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday he said “the Zionist regime is on a definite slope to collapse.”

Ahmadinejad insists Iran is not a threat to anyone, even Israel, but has said it would strike back if attacked. The United States and Israel have not ruled out military action if diplomacy fails to end the impasse over its nuclear program.

Western powers suspect Iran is seeking to develop nuclear weapons, a charge Tehran denies.